Cleveland City Council members have missed hundreds of public meetings since Jan. 1, 2006, neglecting a key responsibility that comes with the $70,000-a-year job that voters elected them to hold.

But no matter how many meetings members miss, council leaders rarely ask for excuses and never punish chronic no-shows. Two members who had spotty attendance were given higher-profile council posts by Council President Martin J. Sweeney.

Sweeney and his leadership team authorized 682 of the 689 absences the city's 21 council members racked up between Jan. 1, 2006, and May 21, 2008, according to a Plain Dealer analysis. Six members have missed 20 percent or more of their committee meetings, where decisions about vital city issues are made.

Attendance by the numbers

Here's a rundown on attendance by the 21-member Cleveland City Council:

689: Total absences from council and committee meetings, Jan. 1, 2006, to May 21, 2008.

71: Percentage of council and committee meetings skipped by at least one member.

13: Percentage of meetings missed on average by each member.

7: Number of absences ruled to be unauthorized.

SOURCE: Plain Dealer analysis of city records

This indifference to legislative duties comes as Cleveland struggles with crime, poverty and a foreclosure epidemic. Poor attendance also emboldens civic and business leaders who are pressing for a reduction in the number of council members.

"If council feels they need 21 members, then council members need to show up at every meeting," said Tony George, a Westlake businessman with interests in Cleveland who is calling for a smaller council. "Otherwise, let's move forward with council reduction."

The Plain Dealer calculated attendance figures for each member based on entries to the City Record, the official publication of council legislation and minutes. The newspaper's analysis of council attendance also revealed that:

• More than 70 percent of all meetings -- both committee sessions and gatherings of the full council -- had at least one member absent.

• The Finance Committee, which Sweeney chairs, recorded the most absences. The committee, the council's largest and most powerful, typically meets dozens of times a year and determines how tax dollars are spent.

• Sweeney appointed Ken Johnson to the Employment, Affirmative Action and Training Committee in 2006 and has let the councilman keep the post despite his missing all of the panel's 13 regularly scheduled meetings.

• Zack Reed accounted for all seven of the absences that council leaders refused to authorize, including four the councilman said were related to charges of drinking and driving.

Sweeney decides who is excused from the Finance Committee, as well as the Monday night meetings that all council members are required to attend. He acknowledged that he often doesn't know why members miss the meetings.

Other committee chairs decide whether to excuse absences from their panels, Sweeney said. A phone call ahead of time is good enough to earn the benefit of the doubt.

"We have confidence our colleagues are taking care of business," he said.

The difference between an authorized and unexcused absence is inconsequential because the potential penalties, including docked pay and possible ejection from council, are never enforced.

Still, Reed complained in an interview that Sweeney did not give him the benefit of the doubt in three unauthorized absences that he said were unrelated to his criminal case.

"I'm just getting listed as unexcused because I'm one of the most outspoken council members there," said Reed, who often criticizes Sweeney in interviews.

Asked if Reed's accusation was accurate, Sweeney replied: "Absolutely not. We have the rules set up by council, you need to follow those rules. It's that simple."

Council leaders record attendance at each meeting but do not calculate individual attendance rates. The Plain Dealer found that on average, council members missed 13 percent of the meetings they were supposed to attend.

Former Councilwoman Patricia Britt was among the worst. In January, Britt resigned her seat to accept Sweeney's offer to become council clerk -- a job that came with a $17,000 raise. She is responsible for overseeing council's daily operations and recording attendance.

Another member of Sweeney's leadership team with poorer-than-average attendance is Majority Leader Sabra Pierce Scott, a Glenville councilwoman. Sweeney gave her the position in 2006 despite a spotty attendance record that continued over the last 2½ years.

The most frequent reason council members gave for missing meetings was spending time in their neighborhoods.

As elected ward representatives, council members must juggle dual responsibilities -- tending to resident complaints about potholes, for example, and serving as legislators.

Several members said that the rampant problems plaguing the city, such as poverty and foreclosures, have increased the need to spend time with residents.

"One thing that is very hard to do after a number of years is to run away from a constituent when they're in front of you, even if you have a meeting, because they take offense," said Councilman Robert White.

Even so, some council members have balanced this dual role better than others.

Sweeney and six other members -- Dona Brady, Roosevelt Coats, Brian Cummins, Martin Keane, Kevin Kelley and Jay Westbrook -- attended 95 percent or more of the meetings.

"I have to work 70-hour weeks," Westbrook said. "It's a super-full-time job."

But the poor attendance by their colleagues will provide fodder for proponents of council reform.

Rebecca Kempton, a community activist in Santiago's ward and an advocate for council reform, said attendance is key to judging a council member's performance.

"If they can't show up at work, how can they tend to the issues at hand?" asked Kempton, spokeswoman for the Democracy for Ward 14 citizens group. "If I didn't go to work 17 percent of the time -- how about you? Would you still be employed?"

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